


You Wouldn't Steal a Heart

by FutureLikeJicasso



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Amusement Parks, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Some Swearing, minsungbingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26168662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FutureLikeJicasso/pseuds/FutureLikeJicasso
Summary: Today’s the day: Jisung has been madly in love with Minho for long enough, and it’s finally time for Minho to know. It’s the perfect setup - a trip to an amusement park, just the two of them, with a flawlessly arranged mix CD for the road and maybe a little bit of magic in the air. All Jisung needs is the right moment to make his big confession.As it turns out, the Right Moment is a fickle creature. Nobody can really be sure what it looks like.Least of all Jisung.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 34
Kudos: 231
Collections: MINSUNG BINGO: Round One





	You Wouldn't Steal a Heart

**Author's Note:**

> yeah boye you thought i was done with @minsungbingo but NOPE
> 
> this mess checks off the **Amusement Parks, Confessions (Love, or Otherwise)** and **AU - Pirates** boxes on my bingo card. i uh, may have taken some liberties with this

The plans had been in place for weeks now - since Minho got promoted at work and Jisung found out he’d passed a particularly difficult class with flying colours all in the same weekend - but it hadn’t really felt real yet. Almost all the preparations were done now; the date had been blocked off in their respective calendars, the weather forecast had been checked  _ religiously _ by Jisung every single day ‘just to be safe’, and Minho’s car had been refuelled, vacuumed  _ (who are you trying to impress? I know how you live _ , Jisung had asked with genuine curiosity only for Minho to throw a cat-shaped novelty air freshener at him in response) and stocked with snacks for the road. Almost everything was ready to go. Almost.

Right here and now, lounging together on Minho’s bed surrounded by various CDs, blank discs and flash drives, the older boy cursing under his breath as he navigated around pop-up ads and auto-playing videos on his laptop, it was starting to feel real for Jisung at last - Operation  _ Dreamscape, _ the amusement park trip they’d talked about for years now, was  _ tomorrow _ , and it was finally time to start getting excited.

After all, it was always the same way whenever Jisung went anywhere.

  
  
  


Maybe it was from watching too many old movies, or maybe Jisung was just a nostalgic sap, but it was a tradition at this point for Jisung to make a mix CD to play on the road for any trip he went on. He put his heart and soul into those mixes, carefully taking into account everyone who would be in the car, the route, their plans or even the weather. Music made so many of his dearest memories so much more vivid, whether it was playing in the background or yelled at the top of Jisung’s lungs, and there was nothing more magical than pulling up an old favourite and basking in the warmth of good memories with good friends.

That, and Jisung liked having a physical collection of all his treasured memories on the shelf in his room. Messily labelled CDs piled up entirely out of order, they may not have looked like much to an outside observer, but they were Jisung’s lifeline in his darker moments - a ticket for a trip back to a brighter, better time until his low mood in the present passed him by. Cheesy as it may have been, they were everything to him.

And Minho knew it, too. Even when he grumbled  _ a spotify playlist and an aux cord wouldn’t risk anywhere near as many viruses _ , he never did mean it.

_ Where’s the romance in a playlist? _ Jisung had sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically.  _ Besides, you’d be giving yourself viruses whether I made CDs or not, you torrenting criminal. _

(That was why they had their little download sessions at Minho’s apartment in the first place - he had faster internet than Jisung, and crucially, better antivirus.)

  
  
  


“Huh, apparently there’s hot singles in my area just  _ dying _ to meet me.”

“I’m right here.” Jisung huffed, looking up from his notebook. They’d worked through around half of his  _ Minho-hyung-please-rip-this-song-from-your-questionable-online-sources-for-me  _ list already, and while Minho got distracted downloading a series of old romcoms that caught his eye, Jisung was making himself busy highlighting which of his shiny new downloads would get the honour of going on his next mix CD. When the older boy gave him an incredulous look over his shoulder, Jisung just quirked a brow in reply. “Is this you saying I’m not hot? You wound me.”

“Putting words in my mouth, Han Jisung~?” Minho didn’t turn back to his laptop right away, instead taking a moment to give Jisung a drawn out and extremely thorough once-over with his eyes that had Jisung feeling warm, all of a sudden.

Damn summer and its unpredictable weather. Sure. 

A squeaky voice from the laptop brought Minho’s attention back to the task at hand before Jisung literally burst into flames under his gaze. “Ah. Another half-naked anime girl game that definitely isn’t going to mine my credit card details. The life of a pirate is fraught with danger.”

Minho was far more precise with his clicks than he used to be, but some  _ interesting _ files had wormed their way onto his devices in the past. Apparently that wasn’t enough for him to stop helping Jisung, though, and for that Jisung was secretly extremely grateful.

Secretly.

“ _ You wouldn’t steal a car~ _ ” Jisung hummed, mind wandering back to the dazzlingly ineffective anti-piracy video he’d been made to watch at school.

Minimising another unsavoury-looking pop-up window, Minho chuckled along with him. “ _ You wouldn’t steal a handbag~ _ what if I  _ would _ steal a car though? Changbin’s got a nice car. I’d probably try my chances.”

“No you wouldn’t. He goes on dates in that thing, and maybe he’s just shy but I’ve never seen the new boyfriend in our  _ apartment _ , that’s for sure.”

He wrinkled his nose at that. “Gross. It’s still a nice car, though. Maybe with all my stolen riches I’ll be able to afford to get it deep-cleaned first.”

They got a little distracted, then. Maybe a lot distracted, spitballing random ideas for what they would do if they had infinite money to throw around. It was typical young man fare; drive fast cars, buy fancy houses, wear designer clothing, go abroad, go to space, go home more often because fuel was expensive and it would be nice to see Minho’s cats  _ (and your parents!! your parents!!)  _ on a more regular basis. 

Clear their debts, settle some scores, hire a hitman.

“-wait, who’s the hitman for?” Jisung blinked, giving Minho an opening to answer. He didn’t, though, just batting his lashes innocently. “Who’s it  _ for _ .”

“Whoops. How much to buy your silence?” Pushing his laptop aside, Minho took Jisung’s hands in his, grinning widely. “I know - how about I take you somewhere special, somewhere we’ve always planned on going? Just the two of us. My treat~ how does tomorrow sound? Ah, wait a minute-”

Punctuated with a wink for good measure, the two boys quickly descended into fits of giggles again. It was warm, so so warm, Jisung’s hands still held tightly in Minho’s and his heart filled up to the tippy-top with overwhelming affection. He couldn’t wait for an entire day of this tomorrow - just him and Minho, alone together,  _ all day _ . He was going to burst.

When the moment finally ended, Minho pulling away to stop a dangerous-looking file from downloading itself without his permission, Jisung found himself rearranging his tracklist with a renewed sense of purpose.

Tomorrow’s CD had to be perfect. Because tomorrow was going to be a  _ very _ special day.

  
  
  


The mix was a masterwork, if Jisung said so himself.

Every possible factor had been carefully considered - some feel-good summer classics for the forecast good weather, a slow build as their route led them out of the middle of the city until they reached the highway where they could crank up the volume on their favourite hype tracks without a care, and of course, with only Jisung and Minho in the car, he could sprinkle in as many of their old favourites as he wanted without leaving anybody else out.

It was flawless.

The only problem was that Jisung’s mix CD was  _ so _ perfect, he’d ended up dozing off at his computer after working on it for half the night, and had to set the disc burning in the morning as he frantically rushed to get ready for Minho’s arrival outside his apartment.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry-” Jisung babbled as he scrambled into the passenger seat of Minho’s car, this being a regular enough occurrence that the older boy didn’t even blink. “Changbin was hogging the shower and Chan was asleep on the couch so everything took five times as long because I didn’t wanna be loud and accidentally wake him up and-”

It was the feeling of a hand ruffling his still-damp hair that stopped Jisung’s apologies in their tracks, Minho just smiling at him serenely. He’d seen it all before, much to Jisung’s embarrassment, but it seemingly hadn’t put him off so far.

“Seatbelt on~ what have you got for us today, DJ?” Minho singsonged, twirling a little of Jisung’s hair in his fingers. “Once that CD’s out of your hands, there’s breakfast on the back seat.”

Jisung swallowed down the remaining apologies waiting on his tongue, silenced by the promise of food (another thing that had fallen by the wayside across his chaotic morning.) Quickly pushing the disc into the CD player, Jisung fastened his seatbelt and whipped around to grab the little paper bag and cardboard cupholder that waited for him on the back seat.

“ _ Breakfast _ . Oh my god. I love you.” It fell easily from his lips, maybe too easily, and he silently cursed himself as he fastened those embarrassingly-honest lips around the straw of one of the cups.

“I know~”

It frustrated Jisung when Minho said that, because honestly, Minho probably  _ didn’t _ know how much Jisung loved him - or at least, in what way, exactly.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened, when his admiration and affection for Minho shifted from  _ cool hyung who I want to make laugh all the time  _ to  _ painfully attractive hyung who I want to give me hickeys  _ but it had, at some point. There was no specific event that had Jisung falling head over heels, no Cinderella Moment that had opened Jisung’s eyes and turned his world upside down. 

Maybe, he wondered, it had just been a collection of the little things - moments like this, Minho humming appreciatively along with the first couple of tracks of his mix CD with a bagel in one hand and the other on the steering wheel in a way that really should not have been as attractive as it was. Like Minho laughing loudly as they ran three virus scans in a row once the two of them were satisfied with an afternoon’s illicit downloading; like Minho buying Jisung his favourite drink entirely unprompted. Maybe it was all those things and more that had pushed Jisung’s once-platonic feelings into  _ very definitely not that anymore _ .

And Minho didn’t know.

It was another reason why everything about today - from the mix CD to Jisung’s outfit to the weather to the traffic to the amusement park itself - needed to be perfect. Because Jisung had decided, after weeks of sleepless nights agonising over the matter, that today was the day that Minho would find out.

He just needed the right moment, and where better to find it than an amusement park date, with just the two of them?

Shaking his head, Jisung tried his best to put that thought to the back of his mind for a moment. After all, he had all day to figure out The Big Moment, and he was running out of time to finish eating his breakfast before one of he and Minho’s favourite high school nostalgia-bombs was due to come on four or five tracks from now.

A whispered  _ I love this song _ from the driver’s seat had Jisung’s heart doing flips already.

It was going to be a long day.

  
  
  


Dreamscape wasn’t their closest amusement park - that one was considerably smaller, and a lot cheaper, too. They’d been there plenty of times with other friends over the years, whether to celebrate various occasions or just to hang out, but never really had any justification for the extra distance and cost it would take to go to Dreamscape instead.

On one hand, knowing their very first visit to Dreamscape would be  _ just _ theirs made Jisung feel all kinds of sappy and disgusting. On the other, it meant he didn’t know a damn thing about the place save for what he’d read online, and new places always got Jisung a little antsy, at least at first.

Especially when they were so  _ crowded _ \- apparently the world and his wife had promotions and passing grades to celebrate today, and it was when they got through the ticket gates that it really struck Jisung just how much bigger than their usual haunt Dreamscape really was.

“First stop, overpriced novelty headgear?” Minho never did ask Jisung if he was alright, not with words, but the way his arm slipped easily around Jisung’s waist to hold him steady and lead him wherever Minho wanted to go was practiced and precise. It was all Jisung could do not to melt into the older boy’s side entirely. “We may as well be walking around naked without it.”

He couldn’t help but snort in response. “Gross. Didn’t need that image.”

“It’s like that nightmare. You know - the one about going to school naked that apparently everybody has. Maybe school would be worse though, since everybody would know you there. At least while there’s more people at an amusement park, they’re probably never going to see you again, right?”

“You sound like you’ve thought about this before, hyung.”

“Well, no, but it’s pretty easy to lay out all the facts.” Jisung could feel that the tension in his shoulders relaxing just a little as Minho led him in the direction of the nearest merchandise stall. “Now that I think about it, imagine the logistics of riding a rollercoaster while you’re-”

“Oh my god, less talking and more headgear.  _ Please _ .”

He was giggling, they were both helplessly giggling when they finally reached the display of hats and headbands that Minho had picked out on the map. It wasn’t the closest to the park entrance, with only a few families and pairs of uniformed schoolgirls browsing as opposed to the enormous crowds amassing around the stalls immediately in front of the gates. The rabble of the crowds was distant now, and as they took the time to try on just about every single hat on offer, Jisung could finally appreciate the  _ atmosphere _ of the place.

Twinkling background music, his vision awash with pastel colours while the unmistakable smell of fresh popcorn wafted from somewhere close by. It really was dreamlike.

“‘Sungie~” Minho was suddenly extremely close to Jisung’s face, adjusting Jisung’s hair before placing a headband of some description haphazardly onto his head. “Cute. This one’s a good look on you.”

Jisung’s first instinct was to groan, because Minho had most likely picked out something stupid. Still, when he pulled up his phone camera to get a better look, he couldn’t help but notice that Minho was watching him unusually quietly. He had a serene sort of smile on his face, the kind he usually wore when talking about his cats.

Maybe he was just getting a little caught up in the dreamy atmosphere, too. Maybe he just wanted popcorn.

Or maybe Jisung really  _ did _ look cute, adjusting what turned out to be a pair of ladybug deely-boppers on top of his head. “Of course it is. It’s all a good look on me.” Because it was, and he knew it, even if Minho’s eyes on him made him a little uncertain at times. He’d probably forget his own name if Minho stared at him for too long. “You’re not going for cat ears, are you? We can get those anywhere.”

Apparently Minho  _ had _ been considering the cat ears, as with a pout he stepped aside and waited for Jisung to make a choice for him, instead.

There was only really one option for Minho, Jisung decided, picking a shining gold crown headband from the rack and presenting it to the older boy with a beam and  _ you dropped this, king~ _

  
  


“So you’re calling me your Prince Charming?” Minho asked him after they’d paid for their headgear, snapping a few selfies in a quiet corner as Jisung scanned the map for their next destination.

And well, a tiny part of Jisung kind of wanted to say  _ yes _ right there.

_ No, _ he scolded himself internally, map blurring a little bit in front of his eyes,  _ it’s like 10AM. It’s not the right time. We literally just got here. _

“Maybe I’m calling you Shrek,” was the intelligent response that came out of his mouth instead.

“Shrek got sexy for a while in the second movie-”

“Hyung. Minho hyung we’re going to get popcorn now so you’ll stop saying words.”

_ Definitely not the right time. _

  
  
  


The problem with waiting for the ‘right time’ was that every time Jisung felt like it might have arrived, it would slip through his fingers like sand in an hourglass. Every time it seemed like the opportunity would strike for that Hollywood Confession that would bowl Minho over, something would  _ happen _ .

  
  


They’d made a promise, on the drive to the park, that they’d ride  _ one _ Big Scary Thing before chickening out for the rest of the day, and settled on the biggest rollercoaster in the park.

“ _ Booster _ is apparently stupidly fast, so it’ll be over quicker, right?” was Jisung’s reasoning, and Minho - hand squeezing Jisung’s tightly the entire time they waited in line and eyes trained on the multiple inversions that the coaster would go through - had hesitantly, and clammily, agreed.

Their hands had stayed together like that even as they boarded the rollercoaster, as the staff fastened them into their safety restraints, and for a moment Jisung wondered if maybe The Time was coming. There would be a huge drop, and his imagination got ahead of him - it would be like a movie moment, yelling out his confession to be masked by everyone else’s screams (but hopefully not quite masked enough that Minho wouldn’t hear it.)

In theory, it was perfect.

In practice, Jisung wasn’t prepared for quite how sharp the drop was going to be, and hadn’t been able to make a sound, not even scream as the coaster rocketed into lightning-speed.

“Why did we even ride that?” Jisung had burbled into Minho’s shoulder as they steadied themselves afterwards, flopped on a nearby bench until the world stopped spinning quite so much. “Why did we do that to ourselves?”

“Apparently you make me stupid.” And well, maybe Jisung felt a little nauseous again.

  
  


He wouldn’t have thought to say anything over lunch - after all, the restaurants and dining areas around the park were pretty crowded, and  _ public _ . Still, after he and Minho regained their appetites post- _ Booster _ and settled in one of the smaller restaurants with a large pizza and portion of fries to share, a strangely intimate atmosphere formed around the two of them, somehow.

Maybe it was the way they were face to face, hunched over their meal with their knees knocking together under the table and fingertips occasionally brushing as they reached for the fries, that created the little bubble separating them from the rest of the world.

Maybe it was the way Minho had stared at Jisung’s lips almost unblinkingly before leaning in a little closer, mumbling something about sauce in the corner of his mouth, and Jisung had practically hit the ceiling in surprise before leaning as far back in his chair as he possibly could, hoping to get the offending sauce with his tongue before Minho…

...before Minho…

...before Minho did  _ something _ .

Maybe Jisung was panicking too much to actually think that part through.

Maybe it was the way his pulse was still racing, even now, as a seemingly unfazed Minho toyed with Jisung’s fingertips over the empty tray where their fries had once been. There shouldn’t have been anything remotely romantic about salt and grease and American pop songs fifty-odd years out of date crackling from the overhead speakers, but somehow there was. It was like, just for a moment, the world ended at their linked fingers - salt and grease and all.

“Hey, I um…” Jisung took a breath, took a sip of his milkshake, and lightly ran one of his fingertips along the back of Minho’s hand. “I…”

“Yeah?” Oh, Minho was leaning in again, closer than ever before. It was electric somehow on Jisung’s skin, crackling in the air between them.

Maybe being fed and on steady ground had Jisung feeling unusually confident, but before he could open his mouth to say anything more, the bubble around them burst as a harried mother pulled her toddler out from between several tables - including theirs.  _ “What did I say about running around! You’re bothering other guests!” _

_  
_ _ “Just looking for the bathroom.” _

_ “It’s this way, where we were going before you let go of my hand. Now come on-" _

The old-timey music went on, but somehow the buzz that accompanied it had fizzled away. The last reminder of what had been a mere prickle where Minho and Jisung’s hands met in the middle of the table.

After a pause, Minho began carefully. “You were saying…?”

“Oh. I. Uh-”  _ Fuck.  _ The Moment was ruined now. “I was just gonna go...get some napkins. I dunno if you noticed but we’re greasy as hell right now.”

“Oh, yeah. You’re right.” Minho laughed, but it sounded a little strained. “I’ll clear the table, you grab us some napkins?”

“Teamwork makes the dream work~” despite it all, Jisung couldn’t help a smile and a greasy, salty thumbs up for good measure.

As they left the restaurant, hands thoroughly wiped off and Minho pointing at another place he’d circled on their map  _ because they do cheesecake there, did you know? you gotta have room for dessert, right?  _ Jisung could at least take comfort in the fact that while things weren’t quite going his way today, they were, at least, making the dream work in their own way.

He’d be dragged along to Chan and Changbin’s gym sessions for  _ months _ after this, and really, it wasn’t a successful outing if he hadn’t consumed enough calories in junk food alone to horrify his roommates to that degree.

So in that sense, he was doing great.

_ Sweet like you~~~  _ Minho had hummed cheerily, spooning blueberry cheesecake into Jisung’s mouth and cooing at him like an overgrown toddler. Great, but perhaps he could still be doing a little better.

  
  


The entire day played out in a similar fashion.

They’d taken photo stickers in the arcade area after lunch, and when Minho moved close to pretend to kiss Jisung on the cheek for one of the pictures, the temptation to turn his head to face Minho had been absolutely overwhelming. And Jisung probably would have gone through with it, if not for the group of teenagers who peeked under the curtain in that exact moment before calling to their friends  _ this machine’s taken, how about over there? _

  
  


At one point, Jisung had been tempted to simply buy Minho a heart-shaped balloon from one of the dozens of vendors stationed around the park. Simple, sweet, a little old-fashioned - it sounded like a cute idea at the time. Unfortunately, all the time Jisung spent warring with himself over whether or not such a  _ basic _ approach was really worth it led to all the heart balloons selling out before he could come to a decision.

(He’d insisted on buying Minho a balloon anyway, a cat-shaped one that Jisung could tell had caught the older boy’s eye due to how strongly it resembled his own cat, Soonie. Minho had dutifully carried the balloon around for a while, a smile on his face and his hand linked with Jisung’s as the string wound around their fingers, but they eventually passed the balloon on to a small child who had spent ten solid minutes gazing longingly at it in the queue for ice creams.)

  
  


He’d gotten so,  _ so  _ close to saying something later in the day, wandering through a large hall filled with dioramas of fairytale scenes as they walked off another ill-advised deep fried meal. They’d been completely alone in front of the largest display; a gleaming model of a fairytale castle, surrounding town celebrating what appeared to be a royal wedding as a prince and princess, dressed in white, were posed on the balcony as if mere inches away from kissing. 

There was something about the low light in the room, the twinkling background music running through Jisung’s veins and straight into his chest, the lighting from the diorama reflecting from Minho’s crown headband.

The fact they were  _ completely alone _ .

Jisung’s attention wasn’t on the diorama for long - not when he could stare at Minho’s face instead. Minho was transfixed by the display, gaze flitting between all the different models in turn, and it gave Jisung the most wonderful opportunity to stare, uninterrupted, at his side profile.

Ah yes, now  _ this _ was art.

“Hey, hyung,” he began, reaching up to lightly tap Minho’s headband. “That’s you in there.”

“Hm. So  _ now _ you’re saying I’m the prince?” His eyes moved back to the pair of figurines on the castle balcony, faces just barely away from touching, and the corner of his mouth quirked up, just a little. Minho turned to face Jisung, then, and maybe it was just the light, but something resembling a hint of  _ purpose _ seemed to glint in his eyes as he continued, voice soft. “If that’s me...who am I kissing?”

Jisung’s breath hitched, his pulse pounding right up in his throat.

“I-”

_ “Oh my gosh! Princesses!” _

_ “So pretty!” _

_ “OooOOOOOH!” _

_ “Stay together everyone, stay together! And remember not to touch anything! Now,  _ this _ display is based on the story of-” _

All Jisung could do was whine pathetically as what appeared to be an entire kindergarten class filed into the diorama room,  _ ooh _ ing and  _ aah _ ing at every single display in swarms, and with a low chuckle, Minho led him in the direction of the exit.

Maybe Jisung should have thought a little harder before trying to make his big confession somewhere full of  _ people _ .

  
  
  


It was like Jisung had blinked, and suddenly the whole day was over.

They’d made for the exit halfway through the fireworks show, after Minho had scared Jisung right out of his skin by leaning so so close to whisper in his ear that if they started moving now, they’d get away before the closing-time crush. And so, with the colourful flashes illuminating their path and the first hint of nighttime chill settling on their skin, they headed back to the parking lot, where Minho’s car waited for them.

It was funny, Jisung thought as he fastened his seatbelt, how last time he was in this car he’d been brimming with plans and hopes and expectations, only for none of them to come to pass. Still, it hadn’t been a  _ bad _ day - it had actually been a really, really nice day. Just Jisung and Minho, having a good time together in a place they’d always wanted to go. It had been great, fantastic even.

But still, there was a little pang of disappointment in his chest that he’d  _ failed _ .

“Seatbelt on?” Minho’s hand ran lightly over Jisung’s seatbelt, over his lap, pausing when Jisung flinched. “Ah, you were quiet so I wondered if you’d fallen asleep already. Just checking~”

“Mm.” He watched, eyelids a little heavy as Minho fiddled with various things on the dashboard (Jisung really needed to get around to learning to drive, himself) before fastening his own seatbelt. “Hey, thanks for today. Really.”

And he meant it. Minho had all but spoiled him  _ rotten _ , paying for their meals, snacks, and the majority of their silly impulse purchases like headbands and souvenirs. Jisung hadn’t even paid him for gas, intending to even things out by paying for stuff at the park itself, but Minho hadn’t let him with the exception of some ice cream and a balloon.

It made Jisung feel kind of bad, but Minho had brushed it off every time with  _ I got promoted it’s fine. _ And well, maybe Minho had his own ways of showing he cared.

“I should be thanking  _ you _ for passing your class, so we had an excuse to come here.” Minho had a lot of smiles, and they all tended to mean very different things, but the one he gave Jisung in that moment was genuine, and it shot Jisung right through the heart. “Want to put the CD on again?”

“Again? Implying we finished it on the way here?” Jisung scoffed, sitting up a little to mess with the CD player. “You underestimate me -  _ obviously  _ I had to factor in the return journey, too.”

“Aw, you really do go the extra mile, don’t you, ‘Sungie?”

Too sleepy to reply, Jisung just flopped back in his seat with a yawn, tossing his deely-boppers onto the back seat with Minho’s crown headband before he accidentally crushed them or something. They pulled out of the parking lot as the chorus of the first song began to kick in, and while Jisung was a little too busy humming along, he could have sworn he heard a quiet  _ it’s what you do best _ from somewhere off to one side.

  
  


Jisung really had planned his mix CD carefully, down to the smallest details. On the ‘return journey’ half of the mix, he’d put in several slower, more chilled out tracks to reflect on the day to, but nothing too sad. The last thing he wanted to do was exacerbate the comedown after an exciting day.

A couple of songs skipped and crackled in places - an occupational hazard of the torrenting life - but neither Jisung nor Minho had the energy to react with much more than a subdued chuckle whenever it happened.

Of course, low-key and chilled out tracks that  _ weren’t _ wholly depressing tended to be more on the sappy side, and maybe Jisung was a little bit tired, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Minho as the playlist continued. The music was carrying his imagination away from him, the flashes of passing cars and streetlights highlighting Minho’s profile as he concentrated on the road, and even if Jisung hadn’t managed to engineer the perfect Big Moment today, he was still in absolute awe that he was able to be so close to someone like Minho. Someone he liked so, so much.

He swallowed hard.

It was getting difficult to keep it in.

Minho was an attentive driver, eyes on the road  _ almost _ all the time, and Jisung never did have to worry when Minho was at the wheel unlike some of their other friends. There were some moments, though, mostly on quiet stretches of highway, when Minho’s eyes would wander over to where Jisung was sitting. Not saying anything, just...quietly observing.

At some point, his hand moved to Jisung’s knee.

“You awake?” His words were quiet, barely audible over the music, and the slight catch in his breath when Jisung hummed in response made it seem more than a little like he wasn’t expecting an answer. “This is a nice mix you’ve put together. I might have to borrow the CD and rip some of the tracks I don’t have.”

Jisung yawned. “My mixes are always good; you know I work hard on them.”

“Mm. I was going to say, actually,” Minho traced idle circles with his fingertips on Jisung’s knee, attention otherwise focused on the road ahead. There were no other cars around, and Jisung was suddenly hit with the realisation that this was the most truly, completely alone that they’d been all day. Like the rest of the world didn’t exist at all. “I can’t help but notice this one is more than a little bit...hm, how should I put this.” He wetted his lips, pursing them in thought. “Were you thinking of someone special when you made this, ‘Sungie~?”

Minho’s tone was playful, but there was an underlying curiosity in his voice that had Jisung’s breath hitching.

“I might have been, yeah.”

It wasn’t a movie moment - Jisung didn’t even know exactly where they were right now, as the view out of the window looked exactly the same as it had ten or twenty or even thirty minutes before. This wasn’t what Jisung had planned, this wasn’t what he’d hoped for.

And yet somehow, it just felt natural. Minho’s hand resting on his knee, Minho’s words fluttering warm in his chest, Minho’s smile reserved for Jisung and Jisung only.

“Thought as much.” His movements slowed, but he didn’t make any move to pull his hand away. “Would it be too much to hope that someone was me?”

  
  


It was like time itself had slowed down, almost to a stop.

  
  


“How could it be anybody else?”

  
  


That time, Minho flinched. Jisung acted on autopilot then, reaching out to lace his fingers with Minho’s before the older boy could even think of moving his hand away. He didn’t have anything smart to say - honestly, he hadn’t had anything intelligent to say all day, or maybe ever since the day he first met Minho - but maybe words didn’t have to be the answer.

Maybe they were both a little dumb, and that was okay.

“Han Jisung, you can’t just say something like that while I’m driving.” Minho breathed after a long, long while. He didn’t let go of Jisung’s hand, however, and squeezed it tightly. “Don’t- don’t say anything else just yet. We’re going to hold that thought until I can pull this car over and kiss you.”

Jisung felt like he was on fire, but held the thought, lips pressed firmly together in fear of whatever embarrassing noise might come out in lieu of words should he part them again.

They stayed like that - pulses pounding over the silence and palms pressed together like a lifeline - until they pulled into the parking lot of a nearby gas station, in the quietest, most distant corner they could find. The car barely came to a stop before Minho’s hands found their way to Jisung’s face, Minho leaning over from the driver’s seat to close as much of the gap between them as possible.

It wasn’t a movie moment, far from it, but as their lips met for the first time, then the second, third, fourth, Jisung found himself glad that this was theirs and only theirs to share.

“Say it again,” Minho whispered, lips brushing along Jisung’s jawline. “About the CD.”

“This mix- I made this mix for you,” his breaths were stuttered, fingers winding into Minho’s hair. “Because I’m kind of totally in love with you.”

_ “Fuck.  _ You can’t keep saying stuff like that.” Jisung was about to protest, but Minho silenced him with another kiss. Another. Another. Jisung had spent so long worrying about how to tell Minho how he felt that he hadn’t actually considered what would come after, but they seemed to have that figured out naturally. Maybe the hard part would be stopping. “Not until I’ve said it back.”

Another. “Say it then.”

“I love-” Yeah, stopping really was going to be the hard part, as barely after Minho broke the kiss to speak, Jisung was sealing their mouths together again. He couldn’t help it - he’d  _ earned _ this after spending all day caught up in his own head. “-you. I love you.”

  
  


They indulged themselves a little longer, hushed gasps and whispers in the darkness, until a yawn that Jisung just couldn’t hold back reminded them that much as they may have wanted the moment to go on forever, they were still in a parking lot and needed to get home.

“Reality ensues,” Jisung mumbled, fiddling with the volume on the CD player as the gas station disappeared from sight in the rear-view mirror. “They usually skip over this part in the movies.”

“Speaking of movies, I got some really interesting looking ones yesterday. We should watch them together.” Minho paused, glancing over to meet Jisung’s eye. “Tonight.”

“You’re asking me to stay over?”

  
“Maybe I’m not ready to give you back to your roommates just yet.” His hand made its way back to Jisung’s knee, like it belonged there. And maybe it really did. “Want you to myself for a little longer.”

“You’re  _ stealing _ me from my poor, unsuspecting roommates.” Jisung gasped, bringing a hand to his chest. “I always knew you were a criminal, through and through.”

_ “You wouldn’t steal a car~”  _ maybe they were just tired, maybe they were just a little bit stupid in love, but the remainder of the mix CD was lost to the sound of their mingled laughter for the rest of the drive home. It was fine - Jisung would listen to the whole thing again later, anyway. Most likely a whole lot.

  
  


This was one trip he had  _ no _ intention of ever forgetting.

**Author's Note:**

> please don't eviscerate me for the pirate thing haha
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/jicasso_future) \+ [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/futurelikejicasso)


End file.
